Sovereign

Danny is a full-fledged superhero, but she’s still struggling—with her parents, who are fighting her emancipation; with her friends, who aren’t always acting so friendly, and most of all with her anger, which makes her maybe a bit too fond of fighting. A new villain, working with transphobic Greywytch, might be enough to push her past the point of no return. The book is pretty explicit at showing how engaging in violence makes Danny feel better, but also endangers her friendships and ultimately her status as a hero.

4 / 5 ⭐️'ˢ

“Sovereign” by April Daniels

This was another great story in the Nemesis series. This YA series follows the journey of Danny Tozer, a transgender teenager who inherits the powerful mantle of the superhero Dreadnought, and must navigate the challenges of both superheroism and transitioning in a world that is often hostile to both.

This book picks up right where the previous book, “Dreadnought,” left off, with Danny having defeated the villainous Utopia and saved the city of New Port. However, her triumph is short-lived, as a new threat arises in the form of the oppressive government agency known as the Legion, which seeks to control all superheroes and eradicate anyone who doesn’t fit their narrow definition of show more “normal.”

One of the strengths of this book is how it deepens the exploration of the themes introduced in the previous books. Daniels tackles complex issues like transphobia, ableism, and government overreach, all while maintaining a fast-paced and action-packed story. The book is both entertaining and thought-provoking, as Daniels explores the nuances of Danny’s experiences and the challenges she faces as a transgender superhero.

I found this to be a satisfying continuation and sadly possibly the final story of the Nemesis series.

If you have an Audible account both books in this series are currently free to listen! show less

Pros: great characters, interesting plot, complex issues

Cons: some interactions annoyed me, a bit heavy handed at times

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dreadnought, the first book in this series.

Nine months have passed since the events of Dreadnought, and Danielle has a contract to protect New Port City. She’s begun to love the feeling of power being a superhero provides, beating supervillians into submission in ways that Doc Impossible finds worrisome. Her relationship with Calamity has soured, though she’s not sure why, and multiple work and family issues occupy her thoughts. Soon after she hears news that Nemesis, the asteroid that creates quantum instabilities, is nearing Earth, a new supervillian emerges with a plan to show more harness its power for nefarious purposes.

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were several opening scenes that annoyed and/or made me uneasy. While some of these were dealt with in detail and worked out later on, others didn’t get much attention beyond the initial mentions.

In the first book Danielle was predominately characterized by optimism. Though her life was pretty terrible, when things got tough she constantly believed they would get better again. Dreadnought focused very specifically on Danielle’s concerns as a young woman coming of age in challenging circumstances. Sovereign broadens the outlook to show that most issues in life are complex and people can’t always be characterized as simply good or evil. Her sudden liking of violence and her enjoyment of beating people up was a little scary to read. While she’s in the pay of the government, she goes outside that purview on more than one occasion. The idea that might makes right is not ok, even if you’re the hero. Some would say, especially then. The book does deal with this, and I was happy with how the ending focused on the fact that emotional trauma doesn’t just go away with time.

I was impressed with how the author handled Sarah and Danielle’s relationship. I loved seeing young people talk frankly about their feelings and fears instead of drawing out the misunderstandings.

I enjoyed Kinetiq’s group work, but her first interaction with Danielle in the book kind of annoyed me. While I understand Kinetiq’s annoyance/anger that Dreadnought took credit for a group fight, their lack of consideration for Dreadnought’s age or current circumstances and insistence that she use every public appearance to push the transgender agenda ignores the fact that Dreadnought, as an acknowledged transgender superhero, already pushes that agenda.

Graywytch was an even more horrible character in this book than the last, though she doesn’t spout slurs this time. Reading about a TERF (Trans-exclusionary radical feminist) was painful. I find it hard to attach the label ‘feminist’ to women who believe transwomen aren’t ‘real’ women, as if there’s only one experience of womanhood and all ‘real’ women share it. But it’s good to face it in fiction, as it’s often through fiction (and other types of media) that people learn empathy and compassion, and that society collectively becomes more socially aware.

I didn’t think the book dealt with the Magma and Doc issue well. Both characters have valid complaints about what happened to the Legion, and sometimes there’s no right answer that pleases everyone. While Doc was under outside control and therefore wasn’t personally responsible for the murders her body committed, Magma does have the right be angry that Doc’s lies left the Legion at a disadvantage, and feel betrayed that she never shared who her mother was. The book takes Danielle’s POV that Doc wasn’t to blame and Magma should just get over it. But this ignores that he and Chlorophyll were left permanently disabled because of that attack. I think it’s understandable that they don’t want anything to do with Doc anymore.

In terms of world-building, the author mentions several of the laws that govern superhero work. Things like the ability to buy bystander insurance and that there are legal work limits for superhero minors. One issue that wasn’t mentioned, that I’d be curious to learn the answer to, is whether superheroes have to pay for property damage incurred during their legally sanctioned missions.

The book has a lot of excellent fight scenes, in a variety of settings. They propel the plot along and keep the pacing quick.

The plot itself was quite interesting. There’s a lot of different super powered people in this one, on all sides of the fence, and it was fun learning their different powers and where they land on the varied political spectrums.

While I didn’t like this book as fully as I did the first one, I was impressed that the author dealt with some difficult issues that many superhero books ignore. I thought Danielle’s development made sense given her life experiences, and am curious to see what the next book has in store for her. show less

Danny is back in this sequel to YA superhero book Dreadnought. Sovereign has it’s own plotline, but it continues the threat of Nemesis and Danny’s character growth. Thus, I’d recommend reading the series in order.

Nine months after Danny debuted as Dreadnought and publicly came out as lesbian and transgender, she’s stretched to the breaking point. She’s the only superhero defending New Port, her relationship with Calamity is strained, she’s still trying to get legally emancipated from her parents, and now there’s a new super villain on the loose. Danny won’t be able to fight him on her own. She’ll need to learn how to act as part of a team.

I picked up Sovereign when I was looking for something relatively light. show more Obviously, I forgot the dark undertones of Dreadnought. Sovereign feels even darker than the first book, with Danny now possessing anger issues and PTSD. There’s a bit too much substance here for Sovereign to be purely a popcorn book. While this series still works as a fun superhero read, I think it works at another level as well.

Sovereign also features the return of one of the most repellent villains I’ve ever read, Graywytch. I guess she’s effective at getting the reader to hate her, but oh my gosh she’s so horrible. She’s basically the lowest sort of internet scum (picture a TERF twitter troll harassing trans women) made into a comic book super villain. She’s probably one of those people who have their chromosomes in their twitter handle.

I do have a spoilerly note regarding problematic intersex representation. It’s seriously super spoilerly so read with caution. Graywytch has an evil scheme to kill everyone with a Y chromosome, but she ends up getting affected as well. Danny points out that Graywytch never bothered to have her chromosomes checked, and what’s happening to her is likely because she actually does have a Y chromosome — she’s intersex. On one hand, a TERF villain turning out to have a Y chromosome is wonderfully ironic. On the other hand, it’s pretty horrible representation for intersex people, getting thrown in as a plot twist and psychological punishment for the villain.

My other main criticism would be that Danny and Sarah got together awfully quickly. Maybe this is just me not getting how romantic relationships work… they did know each other for a while before hand. It just seems strange to have it happen so suddenly like that.

I’m really growing fond of these characters. I think Doc Impossible is my favorite. She just gives me so many feels! I love Danny having a supportive if troubled parental figure in her life. Additionally, Sovereign also introduces a nonbinary supporting super hero. Basically, this is a pretty good superhero series centered around queer and female characters. I think I liked Sovereign even more than the first book.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review. show less

Tore through Sovereign: Nemesis fairly quickly. It wasn't as good as Dreadnought: Nemesis, but still absorbing. I thought it odd the juxtaposition of the team's PG attitude towards their foes and the terrible death toll at the end of the book.

Yep, much better than the first. Still some seriously glaring non-supers physics issues, but stronger character building and some serious fun as regards, "Well, how's all this work then?"

I loved this book! There are bunch of great characters who get good development over the course of the story. The villain is compellingly creepy. There's a new nonbinary character! This series is great and I hope there will be more soon!